The All India Kisan Sabha is holding an apple farmer workshop in Kashmir, deciding to form an Apple Farmers Federation of India, primarily comprised of growers from three states: J&K, Himachal Pradesh, and Uttarakhand, as well as a determination to form small cooperatives.

In the workshop, AIKS is planning to create models similar to the model of cooperatives in Kerala to make sure that the small apple growers are benefited and are not dominated by the corporates involved in the apple trade.

They have decided to submit a charter of demands to the Union Government and undertake struggles till realisation of the demands, which include the declaration of a Rs. 2500 crore package to enhance per hectare productivity of apples.

They have decided to form an 11-member committee of apple growers from J & K, Himachal Pradesh, and Uttarakhand who will take up the day-to-day issues of the farmers on the ground. The AIKS said that they are now focusing on issues crop-wise across the country and the apple remains the backbone of the economy in Kashmir Valley.

Out of the total Rs. 14400 crore value of apples in the market, only Rs. 4300 crore reaches the actual grower and more than Rs. 10,000 crores are taken by the corporates, businessmen, and middlemen. This has to be changed, and the formation of small cooperatives can help to counter this.

Also, collective cooperative farming will bring bargaining power and facilitate pooling of resources. Such real-time experiments can only resist the present exploitation of large trade capitalists and their intermediaries. This will help in uniting the agrarian classes against corporate exploitation.

Apple provides livelihood to around nine lakh households in India, mainly from Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, and Uttarakhand. J&K produces 77 percent of apple fruit in India, followed by Himachal Pradesh at 19 percent and Uttarakhand at around 2.5 percent.

The participants in the workshop stated that the government of India had allowed the import of apples to facilitate corporate control over wholesale as well as retail markets.

Corporates make huge profits through multi-national trade manipulations. For example, Afghanistan does not even have one lakh metric tonnes of Apple production, but six lakh MT of Apple was imported by our country from Afghanistan in the recent period. The Union Government allows corporations to manipulate trade in order to lower farmer sales prices.

These farmer leaders decided to reach out to all the apple farmers, spread across 20 districts across the country, within a stipulated time frame. They said this is the first step towards building a vibrant peasant movement based on the crop-specific issues in this sector as part of the peasant movement against the corporatization of agriculture.

The government is worried about corporate giants like Adani, but growers are suffering and nobody cares about them. Even pesticides are ruining the crops. Hence, it is vital that the government establish a laboratory in every block to ensure the quality of pesticides.

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To develop digital quality control tools for the early detection of fruit defects in banana farmers in India, Basel Agency for Sustainable Energy (BASE) and Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology (EMPA) have now partnered with Innoterra.

The partnership is part of the agenda of the project “Your Virtual Cold Chain Assistant,” currently being rolled out in India.

The method uses machine learning algorithms to detect defects in bananas prior to their being sold on the market. These algorithms are later being integrated into an app, which can be downloaded onto a farmer’s mobile phone.

The early detection of defects allows farmers to optimise their fruit care, storage, and logistics processes. It will lead to more effective usage of agricultural inputs, better quality fruits and less wastage along the supply chain.

The conglomerate allows combining the tech capabilities of BASE and EMPA and building on Innoterra’s deep farming knowhow to further strengthen its full-stack platform offering to smallholder farmers in India and other developing markets.

According to Dr. Anup Karwa, Head of Operations India, Nutrition Division at Innoterra, they are combining state-of-the-art technologies with Innoterra’s deep expertise in banana cultivation and tech-enabled end-to-end platform, to the benefit of smallholder farmers in India.

India is the world’s largest producer of bananas but struggles with inferior quality and high wastage throughout its supply chain. Improvements in pre- and post-harvest processes enabled by technology will make Indian banana farmers more competitive, reduce food waste, allow for better price realizations, and increase farmer income.

Dr. Thijs Defraeye, Group Leader at SimBioSys and a key person involved in developing this partnership, said: “Teaming up with Innoterra is essential for us to implement, test, and optimise the machine learning models we are developing. Working closely with them helps us to complete the innovation pipeline. “

BASE team lead and senior sustainable energy finance specialist, Thomas Motmans, welcomed this development, saying: “We are glad that the solutions we are developing as part of the project, Your Virtual Cold Chain Assistant, are being adopted by Innoterra as a leading player in the agricultural sector in India.” This partnership will reduce post-harvest losses for smallholders by strengthening agricultural cold chains with business model innovation and digitalization.

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IG International, the fresh fruit importer, is all set to introduce Tanzanian avocados to the Indian market. It has just received the first batch of Tanzanian avocados from Avo Africa. This is the first-ever shipment of avocado cultivars from the East African nation.

Avo Africa is a part of the Keitt Group of companies. Keitt Exporters Limited prides itself on being the leading grower and exporter of fruits and vegetables to markets in Europe and the Middle East for over two decades now. They are the biggest growers and exporters of avocados from Tanzania and Kenya.

Speaking about the procurement of avocados from Tanzania, Shubha Rawal, COO, Procurement and Marketing, IG International, said, “Avocados have established their reputation as a global fruit and are indeed one of the healthiest in the world.” Multifarious cuisines are using these ambrosial fruits for preparing exclusive platters.

For a long time, India had been bereft of the goodness of creamy Tanzanian avocados. At IG International, we will offer them the joy of biting into a selectively luscious bunch of avocados straight from the lush green lap of Tanzania at very fair prices.

Articulating about the shipment to India, Dipesh Devraj, Commercial and Operations Director, Keitt Group-Tanzania and Kenya, said, “In January, a trade prohibition on avocado shipments from Tanzania to India was removed, allowing us to access the Indian fresh produce market.”

Over the years, our avocados have been adored across the world, and now we wish to introduce them to India. Anyone apart from IG International would not have sufficed as we were only going to approach the best. Their extensive network and our stringent quality control are a winning combination. We are thrilled to finally enter the Indian market as an exporter and look forward to watching our clients’ faces light up when they eat our creamy avocados.

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Alphonso mango farmers from the Konkan region have joined hands with Innoterra, a Swiss-Indian food and tech platform company, to launch their brand, Ekyaam. Derived from the Sanskrit word ‘Ekam,’ which means “one” and represents unity, Ekyaam represents both the status of Alphonso as the one mango (‘ek aam’ in Hindi) and the unity of the farmers in marketing Alphonso globally.

More than 2,000 Alphonso farmers in the Konkan region have collaborated to deliver consumers with the finest fruit consumption experience under the brand Ekyaam.

Fruits sold under the brand are harvested from highly curated farms and are handled and ripened scientifically using FSSAI approved methods.

Each fruit is scanned individually before packaging to ensure that consumers get the best possible quality. Ekyaam provides 100 percent traceability; each fruit is labelled with a QR code that allows customers to track the fruit back to the farm where it was grown.

Ekyaam’s products will be available across major cities in India, starting with Mumbai, Delhi-NCR, and Kolkata, and across multiple pack sizes. Efforts are underway for a pilot launch in premium international markets, starting with mainland Europe.

This is a historic partnership involving the Alphonso farmer base across the entire Konkan region. Cooperatives and FPOs from Ratnagiri, Devgad, Pawas, Vengurla, Kelshi and other regions are collaborating with Innoterra on this initiative. This brand launch is an important milestone to help farmers realise the best possible value of their fruit, “said Mansoor Kazi, board member of Pawas Cooperative.

This partnership with the Alphonso farmer community is an important demonstration of the power and promise of the Innoterra Ag-tech Platform.

The brand, Ekyaam, has been developed with a contemporary feel and intends to showcase the Indian farmer’s ability to deliver premium products to a global audience.

Together with the farmers, we will ensure that consumers all over India and globally are able to experience the taste of genuine, high-quality Alphonso, “says Pascal Foehn, Group COO and Co-Head Platform at Innoterra.

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IG International forms a joint venture with Deccan Exotics to expand avocado output through plant nursery investment.

IG International, a leading Indian fresh fruit importer, has formed a 50:50 joint venture with independently owned orchard and research centre Deccan Exotics to accelerate the development of Indian-grown avocados.

According to a media statement from IG International, the joint venture business – IG Deccan – will be situated in the Hyderabad region and will make an initial US$1 million investment to develop a plant nursery for producing avocados, with aspirations to generate 5 million trees over the following five years.

IG Deccan plans to handle a full range of new varieties from international avocado breeding companies and sublicense them to growers in India. The joint venture’s long-term goal is to become the largest avocado nursery in India.

Deccan Exotics, an orchard and research centre in Hyderabad, specialises in dragon fruit growing and has a 30-acre property near the Sangareddy Fruit Research Centre. According to the firm, it has the most dragon fruit types in India (27 variations), including hybrids and seven commercial varieties. Its farmer services include seedling supply, agricultural advice, post-harvest management, and produce buyback.

Tarun Arora, IG International’s head of finance and operations, praised the new programme, saying, “Growth is critical, and knowing when to cascade to the next level is even more crucial in the D2C [direct-to-consumer] sector.” 

“Our collaboration with a pioneering firm like Deccan Exotics will enable us establish a flowering biome for avocados specifically for our consumers in India, and it will also offer a potential for India to become the next large avocado [source] market for importers from other countries.”

Srinivas Rao Madhavaram, CEO and Founder of Deccan Exotics, stated that the firm is enthused about the possibility of making avocados a “local commodity” for Indian customers. 

“At Deccan Exotics, we are a farmer-spirited firm that strives to raise the greatest fresh fruit.” We are extremely excited to develop a new joint venture with market giants such as IG International to deliver the flavour of home-grown avocados to every plate in India. Their faultless distribution, along with our R&D talents, will yield the best product.”

Although commerce is still in its early stages, India’s avocado imports have shown hopeful indications of growth, with fewer than 500 tonnes imported in 2021.

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According to the commerce ministry, for the new season, India has got approval from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) for the export of domestic mangoes to America. The export of Indian mangoes has been restricted by the US since 2020 as the USDA inspectors have been unable to visit India for inspection of irradiation facilities due to restrictions imposed on international travel because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

On November 23, 2021, the Department of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare and the USDA signed a framework agreement for implementing the “2 vs. 2” agri-market access issues.

Under the agreement, India and the US will follow a joint protocol on irradiation for India’s mango and pomegranate exports to the US and import cherries and Alfalfa hay from America.

The ministry said that a revised work plan has been worked out, including phase-wise transfer of oversight of pre-clearance of irradiation treatment to India as agreed upon between both countries. As part of the mutual agreement, India will be able to export mangoes to the USA during the mango season, commencing with the Alphonso variety of mangoes from March onwards.

The central government has secured the approval of the USDA for the export of Indian mangoes to the USA in the new season, “it noted. According to the ministry, India exported 800 metric tonnes (MTs) of mangoes to the US in 2017-18 worth USD 2.75 million. Similarly, in 2018-19, 951 MT of mangoes worth USD 3.63 million were exported, and 1,095 MT worth USD 4.35 million in 2019-20. “As per estimates received from the exporters, the export of mangoes in 2022 may surpass the figures of 2019-20,” the ministry said.

The USDA’s approval would pave the way for exports from traditional mango production belts such as Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, and Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. The Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) said that this would also provide an opportunity for the export of other delicious varieties of mangoes from North and East India, such as Langra, Chausa, Dushehri, Fazli, etc., from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and West Bengal.

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Britannia Industries has overhauled its largest selling biscuit brand Good Day and as part of that, revealed its new identity. Also, Britannia is also intensifying the product portfolio of its most penetrated brand Good Day by adding three more variants in the premium segment.

Launched in 1987, Good Day now contributes around one-fourth of the revenue of Britannia Industries, which had total revenue from operations of Rs 12,378.83 crore in 2020-21.

Britannia is going to launch Good Day Harmony and two other variants in the premium segment, as it has been growing fast after the pandemic. The all-new Good Day biscuit design will sport different kinds of smiles – from the dimpled smile to the small smile, from the big smile to the double dimpled smiles.

 “Within 15 days, we will launch a variety Good Day Harmony, which will be much larger cookies with four types of nuts. Then, we are looking at two more varieties coming through in the next three months, yet there are no plans to extend brand Good Day beyond cookies as of now”, said Managing Director Varun Berry.

According to Berry, larger consumption of Good Day comes from the urban market, which has a larger potential for the brand. Britannia sells around 42 crore packs per month in different stock keeping units (SKUs). Britannia holds overall around 70 per cent market share in the premium cookie segment, he added.

 “Our shares in the urban area will be over 80 per cent and share in the rural area would be sub-50 per cent and there is a tremendous potential to grow”, Berry said.

The new positioning for Good Day is the rich and varied smiles of India, which has faced tougher times, he said. The core idea of Good Day has always been about spreading happiness. Today, the brand has undergone its biggest makeover to date, to reflect the diverse smiles of India.

“Every pack of Good Day across the country will carry multiple smiles as part of the biscuit design. This is the biggest tribute we can pay to the beautiful smiles of the large and loyal consumer base of Good Day,” he said.

Britannia has rolled out a high-decibel media plan to announce its new identity for Good Day across all platforms. Beyond the boundaries of the country, Good Day biscuits are also sold in around 75 countries and Britannia has plans to expand it further also. Besides India, Britannia has manufacturing facilities in Nepal, Oman, Dubai and Egypt. It is also putting up a new facility in Uganda in Africa.

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The Union Agriculture Ministry has informed that India has put on hold import of fresh Kiwi fruits from Iran due to rise in pest infested consignments from the Middle Eastern nation despite repeated warnings.    

Import of Iran’s fresh Kiwi fruits has been banned with effect from December 7 by the nodal body National Plant Protection Organization (NPPO) under the Agriculture Ministry. The ministry informed that the phytosanitary certificates issued by the NPPO, Iran from 8 December, 2021 for fresh Kiwi fruits shall not be entertained from India’s end.”

Since October 2021, India has intercepted quarantine pest ‘Aspidiotus netil’ in 22 consignments and ‘Pseudococcu Calceolariae’ pest in two Kiwi fruit consignments. The pest infested consignments of Kiwi fruits from Iran have increased despite repeated warning to take action to comply with the quality norms set by India, it said.

Earlier in 2019 too, India had intercepted a quarantine pest called ‘Aspidiotus netil’ from 13 consignments and non-quarantine pest ‘Aonidiella aurantii’ from two consignments of Kiwi fruits from Iran.

The ministry further said, “The non-compliance report has ben sent on regular basis to Iran for these consignments but so far no action has been taken nor the interception have decreased.”  It said introduction of any quarantine pests through infested import consignments is a threat to Indian biosecurity and is dealt under the provisions of Indian regulation.

The Indian government has suspended the import of fresh kiwi fruits from India as each country has sovereignty and authority to protect itself and the Iran government has also been requested to investigate the cases of non-compliance and submit an action taken report at the earliest with respect to remedial measures taken to avoid the future interceptions.

 Currently, India imports 4,000 tonnes of Kiwis from various countries, while the domestic production is about 13,000 tonnes, as per the government data. 

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AgNext Technologies, the agritech firm, has aligned with NAFED to digitise quality assessment for Arunachal Pradesh’s organic kiwis, which were launched in New Delhi last week by the Arunachal Pradesh Agriculture Marketing Board (APAMB) along with NAFED as the marketing partner, under the national “One District, One Product” scheme.

AgNext’s “Qualix” quality monitoring platform also enabled deep-tech-based comprehensive traceability.Using QR code mapping, the end-consumers can trace all the steps in the supply chain down to the origin.

AgNext’s CEO and Founder, Taranjeet Singh Bhamra, stated that it is an honour to work with NAFED on India’s first AI-based initiative to bring complete quality and traceability management solutions for Arunachal’s renowned kiwi trade. Till date, over 6000 kgs of kiwi have been assessed and moved through our “Qualix” platform, with proven benefits for the farmers, NAFED, and end-consumers. The impact of facilitating quality-based and traceability-enabled trade for kiwis will not only improve domestic demand, but also help in boosting the export potential of the fruit.

NAFED connected has connected AgNext with the FPOs in Ziro, Arunachal Pradesh, where it organised its quality assessment solution right at the procurement centre to measure the total soluble sugar (TSS), which is the key parameter to ascertaining the ripeness of Kiwi. During the packaging process for retail distribution, each box of kiwis was labelled with a QR code through which one can access the complete inspection report along with key traceability and quality parameters. The entire process is automated and led by an integrated AI-based system, which significantly reduces the TAT for quality testing, logistics, and marketing of the fruit.

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Del Monte Foods has announced what it says is the industry’s first canned vegetable product to be certified by the Upcycled Food Association under its new Upcycled certification program.

The company’s Blue Lake Petite Cut and Blue Lake Farmhouse Cut Green Beans are made with 100% upcycled and sustainably grown green beans from Wisconsin and Illinois. Both products have been on the market for years. Del Monte said it is looking into displaying the new certification on future cans.

Del Monte is among countless other companies in the CPG space looking to curtail product waste and find new ways to use foods that would otherwise be thrown out as the issue becomes more important to shoppers.

As consumers place a deeper value on sustainability, hunger, and the environment, few areas are as primed to benefit from the shift as upcycled foods.

The food waste business was worth about $46.7 billion in 2019 and is predicted to grow at a 5% compound annual growth rate during the next decade, according to a study by Future Marketing Insights. The USDA has estimated that between 30% and 40% of the food supply in the U.S. is wasted.

Del Monte chose green beans for Upcycled certification first because it’s one of the highest-volume products produced by the company—it typically handles over 420 million cans annually and the company wanted to make the biggest impact.

Upcycling advocates say using upcycled ingredients can help lower the more than 70 billion tons of greenhouse gases that are generated by food loss and waste, according to Forbes.

Even during the pandemic, sustainability and food waste remain issues that consumers care about.

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